Childhood holidays in Swanage, Dorset, which helped inspire one of Britain’s most beloved illustrators are being celebrated in a major new exhibition.
Flower Fairies: Enchantment by the Sea, runs throughout summer 2026 at the Russell-Cotes museum in Bournemouth, and documents how Cicely Mary Barker’s love of Swanage and Purbeck helped to shape her work.
The new Flower Fairies exhibition is entitled Enchantment by the Sea
The exhibition entrance at the Russell-Cotes museum and art gallery
Unseen Purbeck paintings and photos
Illustrations in her Flower Fairy books, which are still popular today, more than 100 years after they were first published, were inspired by plants and landscapes she studied and drew during family holidays in Swanage from the turn of the 20th Century.
A major exhibition at the Russell-Cotes museum brings together more than 30 original Flower Fairies illustrations, along with sketches and rarely seen preparatory studies by the celebrated artist.
And it also includes previously unseen Purbeck landscapes painted by Cicely and Edwardian photos from her family’s summer holidays in Swanage, in an album from 1907 showing a young Cicely and her family enjoying days on the beach.
A photograph of her 12 year old self searching for shells on Swanage beach was later turned into a picture postcard she used to fund her early career, and some of the flowers she became familiar with from walks at Durlston, like thrift, inspired her botanical drawings.
The Thrift Fairy was inspired by flowers Cicely saw growing at Durlston
Sweet Pea and Periwinkle Fairies are among 30 original illustrations at the museum this summer
“Botanical accuracy and fairy magic”
Sarah Newman, manager of the Russell-Cotes museum, said:
“We are delighted to share the magic of Cicely Mary Barker’s Flower Fairies with our visitors, in an exhibition which brings her artistry to life, from original illustrations to her beautiful Dorset landscapes.
“The paintings she made during her visits to the county, including scenes from Swanage, Corfe Castle and Worth Matravers, are atmospheric pieces that highlight her deep appreciation for our coastline and countryside, and continue to inspire artists today.
“Since their first publication in 1923, Cicely’s Flower Fairies have become much loved classics, with their exquisite blend of botanical accuracy and fairy magic.
“The fairies, modelled on real children, pose sweetly among flowers and plants painted with scientific precision, creating illustrations that are as enchanting today as when they were first painted.”
Mary, Dorothy and Cicely Barker on holiday in Swanage in 1907
A teenage Cicely Mary Barker was already sending her work to publishers
“Full of character and charm”
Sarah Newman added:
“Our exhibition brings together a beautiful selection of Cicely’s original artworks, alongside early sketches, personal sketchbooks, and preparatory studies that reveal the creative process behind her iconic work.
“Cicely was raised in a family of passionate gardeners, and developed a lifelong love of nature that shaped every aspect of her work.
“We show how she combined precise plant observation with carefully posed child models to create fairies full of character and charm.
“Rare early illustrations, family connections, and insights into her working process reveal an artist whose gentle imagination and meticulous craft continue to inspire new generations more than a century after she first came to Swanage.”
The exhibition includes photographs and sketchbooks from family holidays
Holidaying in Swanage
Cicely showed a talent for drawing from a young age, and her supportive parents provided her with inspirational illustrated children’s books to study, by artists such as Kate Greenaway, Beatrix Potter and Arthur Rackham.
At the age of 15, she sold some of her work to the printer Raphael Tuck and Son, who accepted four of her illustrations of animals and published them in Father Tuck’s Annual, alongside established artists like Mabel Lucie Attwell.
During this time, the family would regularly visit Dorset and Cicely would spend her time sketching children on the beach and drawing landscapes nearby.
Memories of holidaying in Swanage clearly made an impression on Cicely, as distinctive Purbeck landscapes survive in many of her sketches and completed postcards.
A view from Church Hill, Swanage, drawn by Cicely Mary Barker in the autumn of 1920
View from Church Hill
The exhibition includes a Swanage photograph album from 1907 showing Cicely and her family on the town’s beach where she built sandcastles and sand sculptures.
As a passionate artist, she used her holidays to record the things she saw, including wild flowers on Ballard Down and at Durlston, which later assured the botanical accuracy of her Flower Fairy illustrations.
Cicely kept sketchbooks throughout her life, using them to record the world around her and also to practise her art and hone her skills, and continued to visit Swanage and Purbeck as an adult.
Sketches from her later life include one of the view from Church Hill, with the steps leading down to the mill pond, and drawings of Corfe Castle from September 1948.
A photo of Cicely looking for shells on Swanage beach was used to design a postcard used to help fund her art studies
Close connection with nature
Three years later, during a visit to Kingston, she drew a panoramic view of Corfe Castle, and also drew studies of the cottages and farmhouses of Worth Matravers.
Curators at the Russell-Cotes say the distinctive Purbeck landscape appears repeatedly throughout her sketchbooks, postcards and finished artworks, demonstrating just how deeply Swanage influenced her artistic development.
The many hours she spent drawing the coastline, local scenery and fellow holidaymakers not only improved her technical skills, but also helped establish the close connection with nature that would define her Flower Fairies illustrations.
These became famous for their extraordinary botanical detail – unlike many fantasy artists, she took great care to ensure every flower, leaf and stem was scientifically accurate.
There are fairy trails to follow in the Russell-Cotes Museum gardens
A delicate study of Worth Matravers from Cicely’s visit there in 1951
Sold more than 7 million copies
The fairies themselves were modelled on real children, carefully posed among plants that Cicely studied in detail.
First published in 1923 by Frederick Warne, new Flower Fairies books would continue to be published at regular intervals for the next 30 years, creating a series that has been reprinted many times, sold more than seven million copies worldwide and translated into 20 languages.
The exhibition at the Russell-Cotes museum, which runs until Sunday 4th October 2026, has been created in partnership with Penguin Ventures and celebrates more than 100 years of Flower Fairies.
Visitors can enjoy interactive activities throughout the museum and gardens, including a chance for children to dress up as fairies for photographs and follow themed trails around the gardens and museum.
There’s an opportunity for children to dress up and pose for pictures
The range of Flower Fairies merchandise proves how popular the drawings still are
Further information
- Discover more about the exhibition on the Russell-Cotes website
